Early experiments 70 liter Aquaponics using aquarium

3:31 AM in 70, Aqua, aquaponics, aquarium, early, experiments, liter, using

When the NFT system started to grow, i began looking up online about aquaponics and came across a lot of content and realised this is a wonderful food production system.

So i decided to try a small growbed system. I had few small tubs and an old decommissioned aquarium lying around and so i decided to make use of it. So first i built a wooden table, just to hold the growbeds/tubs above the aquarium.

After a visit to the hardware store, I created the siphon mechanism using pvc pipes and connected the water flow mechanism whole system. I did not use any taps to regulate the water flow as this was an early experiment. Just wanted to see how basic can this setup be.

My NFT system was giving a bit of a problem and so i decided to transplant all the plants form there to this grow bed system. Since i wanted to remove the NFT system and plan a bigger Aquaponics unit in its place. The transplanted tomatoes started to grow really well. This system has a 70 liters aquarium below the tubs and it has 10 goldfish and a few guppies.

Days, weeks and months later ... lust look at the way the plants have grown and in 4 months time of just feeding the fish twice daily and topping up water as and when the level dropped a little due to evaporation. After this system completed six months i learned a lot about the simple science behind aquaponics, and once you follow those life becomes easy.

I learnt a lot like the right size of growbed, the right growing media and size the water flow rate how it drains out etc. Then i decided to go bigger .. My next project a 500 liter aquaponics setup.

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500 liters Aquaponis setup Early days

11:11 AM in 500, Aqua, aquaponis, days, early, liters, setup

After removing the NFT system i deceided to set up my next big, or rather my first big Aquaponics setup. A 500 liters fish tank with a 300 liters grow bed. The grow bed was filled with 20 mm gravel.

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Early Letters to Congress on Global Nutrition are Helpful This Year

2:06 PM in Aqua, are, congress, early, global, helpful, letters, nutrition, on, this, to, year

Bread for the Worlds 2016 Offering of Letters urges Congress to increase funding for the nutrition and health of mothers, newborns, and young children in developing countries.  Here is the full guide for this years letter-writing campaign.

Hellen Mbithi

We have scheduled a workshop in Albuquerque on Saturday, March 12, to examine how local churches can become involved in this campaign. Our featured speaker is Hellen M. Mbithi, a nurse who was born and raised in the small village of Ngai in Kenya. She will tell us more  about how a lack of nutrition for mothers and infants can impact the development of children.

SPECIAL NOTE: Early Letters are Helpful: A major goal of this year’s Offering of Letters is increased funding for programs for the health and nutrition of mothers and children. This spring, Congress will be considering the funding levels of key global health and nutrition programs. As Congress begins determining next year’s funding priorities, it is important for your members of Congress to hear from you with letters early in the year.  Below is an early sample letter.

WRITE TO CONGRESS
Ask Congress to Support Global Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Nutrition
[Date]
Dear Senator__________ , or Dear Rep.___________ ,
Our country has led the way in improving the nutrition and health of mothers and children so they can achieve their full potential. We have seen tremendous progress, but our work remains unfinished. My faith calls me to urge that we continue until every mother and child has the chance to survive and thrive. Every life is precious.

As Congress considers funding for next year, I ask you to support at least $230 million for international maternal and child nutrition programs in the Department of State foreign operations appropriations bill’s global health account.

Sincerely,
[your name]
[your address]
[city, state, ZIP]

Here is a useful graphic from Bread for the World on a five step process how U.S. foreign assistance reaches people in need.  It all begins with our letters.

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